Telemedicine

Remove barriers in the patient-physician relationship

Telemedicine is a key innovation in support of health care delivery reform. Correctly implemented, it can be leveraged in initiatives to improve access to care, care coordination and quality, as well as reduce the rate of growth in health care spending.

Unfortunately outdated government red-tape often impedes advancements in telemedicine, which can have a negative effect on the patient-physician relationship.

Recently, federal legislation was introduced that would help break the regulatory red tape and encourage innovation in telemedicine. The "Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act" (S. 2484/H.R. 4442), would ensure that patients and their physicians are able to use new technologies that remove barriers to timely, high-quality care. This legislation would also accelerate the adoption of health care delivery models that promote coordinated and patient-centered care. Importantly, the bill would maintain high standards whether a patient is seeing a physician in an office or via telemedicine.

The CONNECT for Health Act is a bipartisan approach to increase the use of telemedicine and remote patient monitoring through Medicare. The bill would remove outdated restrictions on Medicare coverage of telemedicine that limit beneficiary access to these services.